Toward 3D Printing Technologies for the Fabrication of Nanoscale Actuator Arrays

智能材料对热、电压或磁场等外部刺激表现出独特的物理反应，使工程师能够在其设计中添加创新的新特性和功能。一个著名的智能材料家族是由电活性导电聚合物组成的。这些柔软的材料在电场作用下会改变形状，因此可以用来做机械功。******这项新研究计划的最终长期目标是通过专门开发的3D打印技术，发现和开发所需的知识和创新工具，以在非常小的尺度（纳米）上制造具有复杂细节的导电聚合物执行器阵列。为了实现这一长期愿景，未来五年的研究工作旨在将新开发的基于聚合物的智能材料与新兴的3D打印技术相结合，以制造具有独特性能的新型机械部件。******该计划分为三个后续阶段，每个阶段都反映了当时的主要研究重点：第一阶段（第0年至第4年）涉及新型智能材料系统3D打印的合成方法，并通过建立制造导电聚合物组件所需的核心技术来培训高素质人才（HQP）。在第二阶段（第3至第8年），HQP接受培训，以使用这些新材料和制造技术，以研究新的和创新的应用。最后，在第三阶段（超过五年级），HQP培训通过深入研究有关基本科学概念的研究问题而进一步加强；其中一些只有在完成基础阶段后才有可能实现。这项建议的目标是在最初的5年供资期内全面执行第一阶段，并启动第二阶段。******这项研究计划的成功为一种全新的智能材料设备打开了大门，这种设备是不可能用传统的制造工艺生产的，由此产生的致动器技术将立即在各种应用中发挥作用，如微流体中的阀门，生物医学中的单细胞实验室，以及表面工程中的可调流体表面相互作用。该计划在无与伦比的增长和工业兴趣的时代推动了增材制造技术的前沿，因此预计将在加拿大和国外产生重大影响。

Smart materials exhibit unique physical responses to external stimuli such as heat, voltage or magnetic fields, and enable engineers to add innovative new features and functions to their designs. One well-known family of smart materials consists of electroactive conductive polymers. These soft materials change shape in response to an electric field, and can therefore be harnessed to perform mechanical work.******The ultimate long-term goal of this new Research Program is to discover and develop the knowledge and innovative new tools required to fabricate conductive polymer actuator arrays with complex details on a very small scale (nanometers) by means of specially developed 3D printing technologies. To achieve this long-term vision, research effort in the next five years aims to combine newly developed polymer-based smart materials and emerging 3D printing techniques to fabricate novel mechanical components with unique properties.******The Program is organized into three subsequent phases, with each phase reflective of the primary research focus at the time: Phase 1 (years 0 to 4) relates to synthesis methods for the 3D printing of new smart material systems, and trains highly qualified personnel (HQP) through the establishment of the core technologies required to fabricate conductive polymer components and characterize their electro-chemo-mechanical behaviour. In Phase 2 (years 3 to 8), HQP are trained to employ these new materials and manufacturing techniques in order to investigate new and innovative applications. Finally, in Phase 3 (beyond year 5) HQP training is further enhanced by delving into research questions pertaining to fundamental scientific concepts; some of which are only made possible through the completion of the foundational phases. This proposal aims to fully execute Phase 1 and initiate Phase 2 in the course of the initial 5-year funding period.******Success of this Research Program opens the door for an entirely new class of smart material enabled devices that would be impossible to produce using conventional manufacturing processes, and the resulting actuator technology would be immediately useful in a variety of applications such as valves in microfluidics, single cell laboratories in biomedicine, and tunable fluid-surface interactions in surface engineering. This program pushes the frontier of additive manufacturing technology at a time of unparalleled growth and industrial interest, and is therefore anticipated to generate significant impact in Canada and abroad.